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impossible.
    The only people left alive in the entire universe were in this station, as trapped as she was.
    And when the center broke open, as it inevitably would, they would all die.
    Together.
    Chapter Eight CAPTAIN BOGLE remained in his captain's chair, fingers gripping the arms. These subspace waves disturbed him, in more ways than one. If they could destroy a planet, they could destroy a ship.
    And he didn't like putting his ship and crew in unnecessary danger at any time.
    He was having his officers monitor the waves to see if they were growing in intensity. And also to discover any other information they could about them.
    Kirk's interaction with the Klingons bothered him too. Something about the interchange hadn't seemed right. Kirk had done fine considering the Klingon's hostility, but it seemed as if Kirk's ego had gotten in the way.
    Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch "The Enterprise is hailing us, sir," Ensign Gustavus said.
    "Put it on screen," Bogle said.
    He stood as Kirk's face filled the screen.
    Kirk looked just as tousled as he had the last time they'd talked. Bogle imagined he didn't look much better since they'd ridden out three of the subspace waves now.
    "Nice job with the Klingons," Bogle said, not smiling.
    Kirk smiled and half laughed. "They always love my charm." Then Kirk's smile faded.
    "My science officer and chief engineer have a way to get us inside the system. Fo where that signal is coming from."
    "Do they have a way back out?" Bogle said.
    "We'll get out." Kirk sounded impatient.
    He clearly had a plan and wanted to tell Bogle about it.
    Bogle motioned for his science officer, Lee, to join him. "You think we should respond to that emergency signal we've been picking up?"
    "The signal started after we appeared," Kirk said.
    "It could have been triggered by one of those waves," Bogle said.
    "It could have," Kirk said. "Or survivors might have triggered the signal themselves. We don't know. But we need to find ou t."
    Bogle glanced at Lee. Lee was frowning.
    Rodriguez was monitoring the EU-INGON ships on his navigational computer. Klingons, subspace waves, and an emergency beacon.
    Kirk was well known for 52 THE RINGS OF TAUTEE his tendency to rush in, to solve the problem no matter how difficult. Bogle had gotten his command by being more cautious. And this seemed like a very logical time to be very, very cautious.
    "Maybe we should see if we can verify the distress signal. It might be a Klingon trap of some sort."
    Kirk waved his hand in the air as if brushing aside Bogle's worries. "My science officer tells me that asteroid could shatter in any of these waves. If there are survivors, they'll be killed. The faster we move the better."
    "He's right, Captain," Lee said softly.
    "If there are survivors, we have to get them out.
    Quickly."
    Bogle glanced sharply at Lee and then turned back to Kirk. He didn't like the idea of risking his ship in those waves. He would rather face Klingons than lose the Farragut to some unknown weapons system.
    He sighed. Kirk arrived first.
    Kirk had already assessed the situation.
    Kirk had a phenomenal success rate.
    And Kirk was right this time.
    The survivors, if there were any, might be the last of their destroyed race.
    "All right," Bogle said, doing his best to keep the irritation out of his voice. "What's your plan?"
    As he asked the question, he wondered if they should have been scrambling the message. The Klingons were probably listening. But, then, what harm would that do? All they would learn would be about the rescue mission.
    Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch "We try the old two-steps-forward-one-back routine," Kirk said.
    Bogle felt like that maneuver had been left out of his playbook.was Kirk using a code after all? He knew Starfleet procedure for letting another commander know that the message was going to be encoded. This wasn't it.
    "Run that by me again."
    Lee cleared his throat beside Bogle and then, without waiting for